Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the IT pro or solution provider who wants to convert virtual machines and disks from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts and Windows Azure or alternatively convert a physical computer running Windows Server 2008 or above server operating systems or Windows Vista or above client operating systems to a virtual machine running on Hyper-V host.

MVMC can be deployed with minimal dependencies. Because MVMC provides native support for Windows PowerShell, it enables scripting and integration with data center automation workflows such as those authored and run within Microsoft System Center 2012 Orchestrator R2. It can also be invoked through the Windows PowerShell command-line interface. The solution is simple to download, install, and use. In addition to the Windows PowerShell capability, MVMC provides a wizard-driven GUI to facilitate virtual machine conversion.

In one of my prior posts, I mentioned a step required when installing .Net Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 or later operating systems. Specifically, I mentioned the need to supply the source for the .Net files because this is one of the few components we do not stage to the component store on Windows Server 2012 and later. One of the bullets in the things to keep in mind section at the bottom of this blog reads:

If you are attempting to install .Net Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012, instead of specifying the install.wim, you need to specify the Sources\SxS directory on the DVD or if providing the source, the files in the SXS directory copied from the DVD are just for .Net Framework 3.5. You can host them on a share and supply them through the GUI or through Group Policy just like any other feature.

Recently one of my customers ran into an issue when attempting to install .Net Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 using the following command:

The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed. The source files could not be downloaded. Use the "source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. Error: 0x800F0906

...

So why are we getting these errors despite supplying the source?

We released a security update in August 2014 that updates .Net components. The security updates are as follows:

How do you keep from running into this in the future?

I personally recommend that you proactively enable .Net Framework 3.5 on the server images and templates in your environment to prevent having to troubleshoot or take additional steps such as this going forward.

"I’d recently put Windows 8 on a test machine at work and started installing what software I needed. Pretty quickly I found I needed to install .Net Framework 3.5 which is now a ‘Feature’ instead of a separate download.

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Learn how Windows Azure Pack brings the benefit of the cloud to your data center

Enterprises today desire the flexibility and affordability that cloud environments offer, while service providers want the ability to support more enterprise customers. Windows Azure Pack (WAP) builds on the power of Windows Server and System Center to deliver an enterprise-class, cost-effective solution for self-service, multi-tenant cloud infrastructure and application services that run in your data center on your hardware, giving you the benefit of the cloud, with the customization and control you desire.

WAP brings Microsoft Azure technologies to the data center, addressing a number of key requirements for those who want to embrace the service provider model for delivering IT services. Microsoft Azure and WAP tie into the Microsoft vision for the Cloud OS, a hybrid cloud solution that helps enterprises transform their current infrastructure to deliver agility and cost effectiveness. With the Cloud OS, companies can quickly and flexibly build and manage modern applications across platforms, locations, and devices, unlock insights from volumes of existing and new data, and support user productivity wherever they are and on whatever device they choose.

This free course, “Windows Azure Pack: Infrastructure as a Service” Jump Start, on July 16 and 17, focuses on WAP’s IaaS, including self-service and automation of virtual machine roles, virtual networking, clouds, and SQL Server, along with System Center and third-party integration.

IT Pros, you know that enterprises desire the flexibility and affordability of the cloud, and service providers want the ability to support more enterprise customers. Join us for an exploration of Windows Azure Pack's (WAP's) infrastructure services (IaaS), which bring Microsoft Azure technologies to your data center (on your hardware) and build on the power of Windows Server and System Center to deliver an enterprise-class, cost-effective solution for self-service, multitenant cloud infrastructure and application services.

Join Microsoft’s leading experts as they focus on the infrastructure services from WAP, including self-service and automation of virtual machine roles, virtual networking, clouds, plans, and more. See helpful demos, and hear examples that will help speed up your journey to the cloud. Bring your questions for the live Q&A!

Live Event Detail

When: July 16–17, 2014, 9:00am–1:00pm

What: Fast-paced live virtual session

Cost: Free

Audience: IT Pros

Prerequisites: This course is open to anyone interested in establishing cloud-style architecture in the data center.

Day One

Introduction to the Windows Azure Pack

Install and Configure WAP

Integrate the Fabric

Deliver Self-Service

Day Two

Automate Services

Extend Services with Third Parties

Create Tenant Experiences

Real-World WAP Deployments

..."

A boy can wish to have his own little slice of Azure inside his firewall (um... that sounds... um... a little weird... anyway...)

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Today’s Tip…

Windows Server 2012 includes a new feature called SMB Direct, which supports the use of network adapters that have Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) capability. Network adapters that have RDMA can function at full speed with very low latency, while using very little CPU. For workloads such as Hyper-V or Microsoft SQL Server, this enables a remote file server to resemble local storage. SMB Direct includes:

Increased throughput: Leverages the full throughput of high speed networks where the network adapters coordinate the transfer of large amounts of data at line speed.

...you'll want to check this out. Say you're accessing really large PST's via a network share and it's not working out real well, this might be something you should run to check out. The problem might be though that this is a Server 2012 feature and you're accessing those resources from a Win7 box... hum... Will have to think about that.

Reviewing the deployment scenario

Figure 1 shows where we are in our scenario for performing an express deployment of Windows Azure Pack. So far we have completed the following tasks in our contoso.com virtual test environment running on the Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V host named HOST30:

...

At this point we are now ready to install Windows Azure Pack on WAP01 using the express deployment scenario approach. The sections below cover the following:

Installing Windows Azure Pack

Configuring the installation

Verifying the installation

Installing Windows Azure Pack

To install Windows Azure Pack you must use the Microsoft Web Platform Installer. The latest version of this installer is version 4.6 and it can be obtained from the Microsoft Download Center. Once you've download the installer, double-click on it to launch it. The initial screen of the installer will look something like this:

...

..."

Another great series to get you going with Azure Pack. Remember, Azure Pack is a way to bring the cloud inside your firewall...

Introduction

Cloud computing is making big inroads into companies today. Smaller businesses are taking advantage of Microsoft cloud services like Windows Azure, Windows Intune and Office 365 to migrate their line-of-business applications and services to the cloud instead of hosting them on-premises. The reasons for doing this include greater scalability, improved agility, and cost savings.

Large enterprises tend to be more conservative with regards to new technologies mainly because of the high costs involved in widespread rollout of new service models and integrating them with existing the organization's datacenter infrastructure. Windows Azure Pack is designed to help large enterprises overcome these obstacles by providing a straightforward path for implementing hybrid solutions that embraces both the modern datacenter and cloud hosting providers.

As a cloud platform from Microsoft that provides a wide range of different services, Windows Azure lets you build, deploy, and manage solutions for almost any purpose you can imagine. In other words, Windows Azure is a world of unlimited possibilities. Whether you're a large enterprise spanning several continents that needs to run server workloads, or a small business that wants a website that has a global presence, Windows Azure can provide a platform for building applications that can leverage the cloud to meet the needs of your business...

Let's look at the definition that Microsoft uses for describing Windows Azure:

Windows Azure is an open and flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build, deploy, and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any language, tool, or framework. And you can integrate your public cloud applications with your existing IT environment.

This definition tells us that Windows Azure is a cloud platform, which means you can use it for running your business applications, services, and workloads in the cloud. But it also includes some key words that tell us even more:

Open - Windows Azure provides a set of cloud services that allow you to build and deploy cloud-based applications using almost any programming language, framework, or tool.

Flexible - Windows Azure provides a wide range of cloud services that can let you do everything from hosting your company's website to running big SQL databases in the cloud. It also includes different features that can help deliver high performance and low latency for cloud-based applications.

Microsoft-managed - Windows Azure services are currently hosted in several datacenters spread across the United States, Europe, and Asia. These datacenters are managed by Microsoft and provide expert global support on a 24x7x365 basis.

Compatible - Cloud applications running on Windows Azure can easily be integrated with on-premises IT environments that utilize the Microsoft Windows Server platform.

...

...

Windows Azure Pack vs. Windows Azure

You all know I'm a fan of this... There are just to many businesses, and business people, who freak at the thought of their, or their client's, data being "in the cloud." The Windows Azure Pack seems to be a great middle ground, letting us have the good that is "the cloud" inside our own data centers...

Marc van Eijk en I have had some hands-on at Windows Azure Pack (formerly known as Windows Azure Services for Windows Server). There is a lot of info out there, but very scattered. Hopefully we can keep this WAP Wiki updated every now and then. Feel free to add to this Wiki!

The Windows Azure Pack delivers Windows Azure technologies for you to run inside your datacenter. Offer rich, self-service, multi-tenant services and experiences that are consistent with Microsoft’s public cloud offering.

Windows Azure-consistent experiences and services in your datacenter

The Windows Azure Pack is a collection of Windows Azure technologies available to Microsoft customers at no additional cost. Once installed in your datacenter, the Windows Azure Pack integrates with System Center and Windows Server to help provide a self-service portal for managing services such as websites, Virtual Machines, and Service Bus; a portal for administrators to manage resource clouds; scalable web hosting; and more.

"This download is an Adobe® PDF of the entire contents of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 section of the Microsoft TechNet Library, for the convenience of Windows Server users who have limited Internet access, or require a portable version of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 documentation. The PDF is 116 MB, and 7,970 pages in length. Highlights of the PDF include the following. ..."

On the 1st of August, 2012 Microsoft released Windows Server 2012– the sixth release of the Windows Server product family. On May 21st 2013, Windows Server 2012 R2 was introduced and is now the latest version of Windows Server in the market. Microsoft has released four different editions of Windows Server 2012 varying in cost, licensing and features. These four editions of Windows Server 2012 R2 are: Windows 2012 Foundation edition, Windows 2012 Essentials edition, Windows 2012 Standard edition and Windows 2012 Datacenter edition.

Let’s take a closer look at each Windows Server 2012 edition and what they have to offer.

Microsoft’s Windows Server 2012 is an attractive server-based product designed to meet the demands of small to large enterprises and has a very flexible licensing model. It is very important to fully understand the licensing options and supported features on each of the 4 available editions, before proceeding with your purchase – a tactic that will help ensure costs are kept well within the allocated budget while the company’s needs are fully met.

A co-worker shared this with me and while it might be cribbed from other resources, I still liked it. There's nothing like a little comparison matrix to be a "thousand words" multiplier...

This guide takes you through configuring an eDiscovery solution. This solution uses SharePoint Server 2013 Search Service to crawl SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and Windows file shares for items that may be relevant to ongoing litigation. You’ll be doing this by using the five server computers and two client computers configured with server-to-server authentication from the Configure an Integrated Exchange, Lync and SharePoint test lab. You can view the Configure an Integrated Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint Test Lab overview video to help you get started.

Important

This TLG uses multiple virtual machines (VMs) to illustrate the separation of services and distribution of roles in the eDiscovery solution. In consideration of resource limitations though, the number of VMs used is kept to a minimum. The architecture that’s presented here is for test lab purposes only and should not be used in production. To see production scale architectures and sample topologies refer to:

In this test lab, integrated functionality is deployed by using the following:

· One computer running Windows Server® 2012 named DC1 that is configured as an intranet domain controller, Domain Name System (DNS) server, and DHCP server.

· One intranet member server running Windows Server 2012 named SQL1 that is configured as a SQL database server and enterprise root certification server.

· One intranet member server running Windows Server 2012 named SP1 that is configured as a SharePoint Server 2013 web server, an enterprise root certification authority and with Windows file shares.

· One intranet member server running Windows Server 2012 named EX1 that is configured as the Exchange Server 2013 email server.

· One intranet member server running Windows Server 2012 named LYNC1 that is configured as the Lync Server 2013 Standard Edition server.

· One member client computer running Windows 8 named CLIENT1.

· One member client computer running Windows 8 named CLIENT2.

The integrated test lab consists of a single subnet named Corpnet (10.0.0.0/24) that simulates a private intranet. Computers on the Corpnet subnet connect by using a hub or switch. See the following figure.

Had to highlight this as it's in my day job business sphere... I don't know if/when corps will start using something like this, as apposed to the current commonly used "vaults" but it's good to see Microsoft starting to get into this space.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

This pack enables the media streaming functionality for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and the Windows Server Essentials Experience server role in Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard and Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter. By downloading and installing this pack, you will be able to restore the media streaming functionality.

Version: 1.0

Date Published: 10/21/2013

wsemp.exe, 16.9 MB

This pack will enable the following functionality on for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and the Windows Server Essentials Experience server role in Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard & and Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter:

Streaming of media (photos, music and videos) to DLNA-compliant receivers

Smooth streaming to HTML5 HTML5-compliant browsers through by using Remote Web Access and to web service applications

UI elements associated with the configuration of media streaming in the Windows Server Essentials Dashboard

I've been wanting to host an Windows Home Server/Windows Server Essentials box in the house for the longest time... And yet, have never found the want too. That said, when/if I do, I'll want to add this to it...

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Some of the guys on my team have created an AMAZING series of blog posts comparing Windows Server and Hyper-V to VMWare’s offerings. Here’s a complete list of the entire series – you should DEFINITELY take a look…

Hello out there all of you virtualization fans!… all of you datacenter supermen and superwomen!… all of you who get excited when skillfully and elegantly applied information technology makes your work lives and the work lives of the people you support – and the businesses you provide value to - just so much better!

Exactly. Except that instead of one week, it’s six weeks long. And instead of sharks, it’s virtualization platform and management comparisons. But in terms of ferocity, well.. they’re exactly the same. (Minus the sharp teeth and all of that violence, of course.) What we want to do during these six weeks is to dispel some of the myths and misinformation that is out there. In this series we promise to provide you with articles that are rich in technical detail, proving that Hyper-V and System Center 2012 are the best choice for virtualization and serving up applications; whether your “clouds" are local, in the public cloud, at a hosting provider, or a combination of any of those.

We also promise that, if we’re discussing an area where VMware simply has a better solution, or has a technology that Microsoft can’t match, we’ll acknowledge it honestly. We know that, as Microsoft employees (and especially as a bunch of folks who hold the title of “Evangelists”), we automatically are seen as impartial. And let’s face it: We are. (smile) But we’re also confident enough in the products and the company that we represent to be able to just tell it like it is. ...

“Do you have a list of topics created?”

Yes, we do have a list. But it’s definitely subject to change. It’s no secret, and certainly no accident, that this series will be happening over the week when VMware will be holding their VMWorld conference. So we know that our list might change drastically during that week as a result of the announcements and improvements that VMware will most certainly make....

It's likely if you're already heavily invest in one side or the other, this series might not change your mind, but I do like that the guys tried to be as honest as possible in their comparisons. And it never hurts to see what the other side of the fence looks like...

Friday, September 13, 2013

SoundVolumeView is a new tool for Windows Vista/7/8/2008 that displays general information and current volume level for all active sound components on your system, and allows you to mute and unmute them instantly.

SoundVolumeView also allows you to save a sound profile into a file, containing the current volume level and the mute/unmute state of all sound components, as well as the default sound devices, and then later, load the same file to restore exactly the same volume levels and settings.

There is also extensive command-line support, which allows you to save/load profiles, change current volume of every sound component, and mute/unmute every sound component, without displaying any user interface.

This utility works on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 2008. Both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are supported. Windows XP and older systems are not supported

Start Using SoundVolumeView

SoundVolumeView doesn't require any installation process or additional dll files. In order to start using it, simply run the executable file - SoundVolumeView.exe

After running SoundVolumeView, the main window is displays all sound items found in your systems. There are 3 types of items: devices, subunits, and application volume. For every item, the current volume level is displayed in percent unit. For devices and subunits, the volume level is also displayed in Decibel. For subunits, the volume level is displayed for every channel separately.

Increase/Decrease/Mute Volume

In the main window of SoundVolumeView, you can select one or more items, and then mute, unmute, increase, or decrease the volume of selected items, using accelerator keys:

...

Sound Profiles

SoundVolumeView allows you to save all your current sound settings into a sound profile filename, and then load it later when you want to restore these settings. The sound profile file stores the following information:

Volume level of all active sound components on your system. (Devices, Subunits, and application volume) For Subunits, the volume level of every channel is stored separately.

Mute/Unmute state of all active sound components on your system. (Devices, Subunits, and application volume)

Default render/capture device.

You can save and load sound profiles by using the 'Save Sound Profile' and 'Load Sound Profile' options under the File menu, or by using the /SaveProfile and /LoadProfile command-line options. There is also a recent menu located under the File menu, which allows you to easily load the last 10 sound profiles you used, as well as you can also load the recent 5 sound profiles from the tray menu (If the tray icon is turned on)

Be aware that sound profiles are bound to specific computer and its devices. You cannot save a sound profile in one computer and then load it into another computer.

Command-Line Options

You can use the command-line options below to change the volume level and mute/unmute status of every sound component on your system. In the [Name] parameter , you can specify one of the following fields:

The name of the item, as appeared under the 'Name' column. (If you have multiple items with identical name, you should use the ID field.)

The ID of the item, as appeared under the 'Item ID' column.

For sound devices (Type = 'Device'), you can also use the value specified under the 'Device Name' column.

For application items (type = 'Application), you can also specify the process filename, for example: firefox.exe

NirSoft (the heir apparent Sysinternals?) continues to provide a series of awesome utilities for Windows. I mean check out some of the available tools and utilities;

There are quite a few products that make up the Microsoft Cloud OS vision. Windows Server 2012 R2 is in preview right now and ready for your evaluation. We also have a strong management platform that make up the System Center family of products. They are designed to have tight integration with the core being Windows Server.

If you are looking for information on Windows Server 2012 R2, we have been rolling out detailed information though Brad Anderson’s What’s New in 2012 R2 blog series. That will continue but we thought you would like a short consolidated list for consideration. Here are some of the new innovations in Windows Server 2012 R2.

Storage transformation – Delivers breakthrough performance at a fraction of the cost

The storage tiering feature of Storage Spaces in Windows Server 2012 R2 automatically tiers data across hard disks and solid state drives based on usage to dramatically increase storage performance and cost efficiency.

Network virtualization in Windows Server 2012 R2, along with the management capabilities in System Center 2012 R2 provides the flexibility to place any virtual machine on any node regardless of IP address with isolation.

New in-box gateway in Windows Server 2012 R2 extends virtual networks to provide full connectivity to physical networks as well as access to virtual networks over the internet.

Virtualization and live migration – Provides an integrated and high-performance virtualization platform

Cross-version live migration enables virtual machines running on Windows Server 2012 to be migrated to Windows Server 2012 R2 hosts with no downtime.

Live migration compression provides dramatic time savings (approximately 50% or greater) by using spare CPU cycles to compress live migration traffic with no special hardware.

Live migration with RDMA enables offloading of the process to the NICs (if they support RDMA) for even faster live migrations.

Enable users to work on the device of their choice (through BYOD programs or on personal devices) by providing a simple registration process to make the devices known to IT and be taken into account as part of your conditional access policies

Deliver policy-based access control to corporate applications and data with consistent experiences across devices

Protect corporate information and mitigate risk by managing a single identity for each user across both on-premises and cloud-based applications and enabling multi-factor authentication for additional user validation

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

We’re very excited to announce another free ebook offering from Microsoft Press. Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview Release (ISBN 9780735682931), by Mitch Tulloch with the Windows Server Team, introduces new features and capabilities, with scenario-based advice on how the platform can meet the needs of your business. Get the high-level overview you need to begin preparing your deployment now. This book is based on the Preview release and will be updated to cover Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM.

I have decided to use Windows Azure as my lab environment because it is the fastest and most accessible way for me to work on this from anywhere in the world. I travel a lot so I want to be able to access the lab while on the road. This is a self-contained lab environment that for right now is just for my PowerShell learning. But it has the potential to be used for other lab scenarios and is completely expandable.

I have decided to use Windows Azure as my lab environment because it is the fastest and most accessible way for me to work on this from anywhere in the world. I travel a lot so I want to be able to access the lab while on the road. This is a self-contained lab environment that for right now is just for my PowerShell learning. But it has the potential to be used for other lab scenarios and is completely expandable.

You can create your own Windows Azure Lab by following along. The first step is to get signed up for a Free Windows Azure Trial account here -

To create the lab environment, we have to build out a few different pieces -

Hopefully, if you are at the stage of wanting to learn PowerShell, you already know how to create a Windows Domain Controller. Even if you don’t have much experience with Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview, you should be able to stumble through this part easily. But there are a few configurations we need to look at to ensure all of the virtual machines can speak to each other.

Note - If you have not already created three (3) virtual machines, go back to Part 2 to review the steps for creating the additional virtual machines. We will need a total of three (3) for our lab. Once you have the required virtual machines, come back to this post to complete the configuration

*** Important *** – When creating the additional virtual machines, ensure they are all in the same Cloud Service, Virtual Network, and Storage Account. You can look at the configuration of the Virtual Machine we created in Part 2 to find this information

..."

Want to build a complete lab to play with, and learn, PowerShell? Or a series to help you learn about building such a lab on Azure? Want to see about creating your own little cloud hosted domain? Want to use your MSDN Azure allowance?

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

There are a lot of great surprises in these new R2 releases – things that are going to make a big impact in a majority of IT departments around the world. Over the next four weeks, the 2012 R2 series will cover the 2nd pillar of this release: Transform the Datacenter. In these four posts (starting today) we’ll cover many of the investments we have made that better enable IT pros to transform their datacenter via a move to a cloud-computing model.

This discussion will outline the ambitious scale of the functionality and capability within the 2012 R2 products. As with any conversation about the cloud, however, there are key elements to consider as you read. Particularly, I believe it’s important in all these discussions – whether online or in person – to remember that cloud computing is a computing model, not a location. All too often when someone hears the term “cloud computing” they automatically think of a public cloud environment. Another important point to consider is that cloud computing is much more than just virtualization – it is something that involves change: Change in the tools you use (automation and management), change in processes, and a change in how your entire organization uses and consumes its IT infrastructure.

...

As I noted above, it simply makes logical sense that running the Microsoft workloads in the Microsoft Clouds will deliver the best overall solution. But what about Linux? And how well does Microsoft virtualize and manage non-Windows platforms, in particular Linux? Today we’ll address these exact questions.

Our vision regarding other operating platforms is simple: Microsoft is committed to being your cloud partner. This means end-to-end support that is versatile, flexible, and interoperable for any industry, in any environment, with any guest OS. This vision ensures we remain realistic – we know that users are going to build applications on open source operating systems, so we have built a powerful set of tools for hosting and managing them.

...

Windows Server: The Best Infrastructure to Run Linux Workloads [GD:They said it, not me...]

...

At the core of enabling this single infrastructure is the ability to run Linux on Hyper-V. With the release of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, and enhanced by the updates in the 2012 R2 version, Hyper-V is at the top of its game in running Windows guests. We’re delivering this with engineering investments in Hyper-V, of course, but also in the Linux operating system.

You read that correctly – some of the work we are doing at Microsoft involves working directly with the Linux community and contributing the technology that really enables Hyper-V and Windows to be the best cloud for Linux.

Here’s how we’ve done it: Microsoft developers have built the drivers for Linux that we call the Linux Integration Services, or “LIS.” Synthetic drivers for network and disk provide performance that nearly equals the performance of bare hardware. Other drivers provide housekeeping for time synchronization, shutdown, and heartbeat. Directly in Hyper-V, we have built features to enable live backups for Linux guests, and we have exhaustively tested to ensure that Hyper-V features, like live migration (including the super performance improvements in 2012 R2), work for Linux guests just like they do for Windows guests. In total, we worked across the board to ensure Linux is at its best on Hyper-V.

For our customers, we wanted to make managing Linux and any CIM-based system simple to automate via PowerShell. We introduced the PowerShell CIM cmdlets in Windows Server 2012 which enable IT pros to manage CIM based systems natively from Windows.

...

Open Source on Windows

In any IT environment, open source is more than just the operating system. You may be using open source components in your applications, whether you are a vendor offering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) from the cloud, or an enterprise running open source components in your datacenter.

To provide customers with increased flexibility for running open source-based applications on Windows, Microsoft simplified the process for building, deploying and updating services that are built on Windows. This was achieved through the development of a set of tools called “CoApp” (Common Open source Application Publishing Platform), which is a package management system for Windows that is akin to the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) on Linux.

Using CoApp, developers on Windows can easily manage the dependencies between components that make up an open source application. Developers will notice that many of the core dependencies, such as zlib and OpenSSL, are already built to run on Windows and are available immediately in the NuGet repository. Through NuGet, CoApp-built native packages can be included in Visual Studio projects in exactly the same manner as managed-code packages, making it very easy for a developer to download core libraries and create open source applications on Windows. Those of you with a developer orientation can get more details on CoApp in these videos: GoingNative - Inside NuGet for C++ and Building Native Libraries for NuGet with CoApp’s PowerShell Tools....

...

Summary

Enabling open source software is a key part of our promise to support the efforts of our customers as they continue to transform their datacenters with the cloud. This enablement is a key tenet of the scenarios we design and build our products to handle. The features and functions that enable open source software are an integral part of our products, and each element of these products are built and tested by our core engineering teams. These efforts are fully supported by Microsoft.

As you might expect for the “Enable OSS” tenet of this 2012 R2 release, key parts of our open source enablement are themselves open source. For example, the Linux Integration Services are open source in the Linux kernel, and Microsoft releases the source code for most of the agents that System Center uses on Linux and UNIX to provide management capabilities. OMI and CoApp are also an open source projects, and, of course, PHP on Windows is part of the PHP open source project.

With this release Microsoft is clearly the choice for datacenter infrastructure if you require the ability to run and manage open source software alongside Windows.

..."

Sorry for the link-bait title, but couldn't resist. That's a strong claim. Given the Microsoft of today, I actually don't think it's too insane or crazy either (imaging say that 10 years ago!)

View the first of two Jump Starts in a series covering the end-to-end process of implementing a MS cloud solution, providing a deep dive into key topics associated with implementing a Microsoft hybrid cloud solution. This Jump Start is a scenario-based, bottom up approach to designing and building your private cloud on Windows Server 2012 and incorporating the full spectrum of System Center 2012 SP1 components. MVP Pete Zerger and Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist Symon Perriman focus on bringing a greater understanding to key topics related to the fabric, such as virtual networking and leveraging the storage and networking capabilities of WS2012 along with creating service templates in VMM and on the Service Manager CMDB as we move up the management stack. Additionally you learn how the service-catalog comes together to deliver an intuitive self-service experience in a step-by-step approach.

View the second of two Jump Starts in a series covering the end-to-end process of implementing a MS cloud solution, providing a deep dive into key topics associated with implementing a Microsoft hybrid cloud solution. This Jump Start is a continuation of "Build a Private Cloud with Windows Server & System Center Jump Start" and focuses on successfully monitoring and managing ongoing operation of a private cloud environment. MVP Pete Zerger and Technical Product Manager Matt McSpirit provide example after example on how to integrate Azure IaaS into our private cloud to deliver hybrid cloud capabilities in System Center 2012 SP1, how to develop hybrid cloud self-service scenarios in System Center 2012 App Controller and in the System Center Service Manager Self-Service Portal, and demonstrate full integration of private and public cloud with ITIL.

I want the cloud and all it promises, but I want it in my data center (well I don't but out clients do). So the Azure Pack and Private Cloud are currently high priority key words in my feed scanning...

I wanted to let everyone know the SQL Server team has just published a shiny new white paper (96 pages long) that discusses all the best practices for managing SQL Server on virtual machines in Windows Server 2012... It's a very well done white paper and definitely worth reading.

Introduction This guide provides high-level best practices and considerations for deploying and managing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 on a Microsoft virtualization infrastructure. The recommendations and guidance in this document aim to:  Complement the architectural design of an organization’s specific environment.  Help organizations take advantage of the key platform features in SQL Server 2012 to deliver the highest levels of performance and availability.

Executive Summary With the proliferation of applications in everyday use, enterprises have an increasing need for more instances of databases such as SQL Server. Most applications have their own set of database requirements, leading to the use of multiple versions of databases and to significant costs related to the databases and related hardware resources. More importantly, the hardware deployed for databases is not fully utilized or there is a demand to scale up hardware resources to meet peak utilization on certain databases. Therefore, it has become important to control the cost of databases and related hardware resources, and to optimize and scale the use of hardware resources in different scenarios to provide better flexibility and maintain service level agreements (SLAs). An ideal solution to this problem is virtualization.

Virtualization is fairly common now. Many organizations worldwide have moved beyond the nascent stage into being more advanced users of server virtualization, specifically. These organizations have gained benefits in the areas of costs, efficiency, operations, availability, agility, and resiliency.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 provide a host of new features that can be used to effectively virtualize demanding database workloads that previously were not considered for virtualization. This guide explains these new features in the context of how organizations should consider virtualizing SQL Server 2012 on Windows Server 2012 and the benefits of managing this virtualized environment with Microsoft System Center 2012. Working together, these industry-leading products deliver an integrated platform with a low total cost of ownership (TCO) as well as mission-critical scale, performance, and availability. The platform also provides enhanced end-to-end security, management, and monitoring capabilities.

Further, many organizations now want to go a step beyond and adopt an IT infrastructure that is optimized for and ready to work in the cloud. They need an IT infrastructure that can seamlessly span from a private to a public cloud. To achieve this goal, organizations require a common virtualization platform that can increase performance and efficiency across the infrastructure. In this regard, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V offers an ideal virtualization platform for SQL Server 2012.

Target Audience This guide is intended for IT professionals and technical decision makers (TDMs), including IT consultants, architects, database administrators, and IT managers. They can use this guide to understand how to set up an environment for virtualizing SQL Server 2012 using an integrated virtualization platform built on some of the latest Microsoft technologies, such as Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and System Center 2012. Understanding key considerations and best practices can help TDMs effectively plan and deploy SQL Server 2012 virtualization using Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. This guide serves the following purposes for these key roles:  Architects: Understand how the entire virtualization environment will work as they design the architecture.  IT Managers: Design processes to fit the overall virtualization environment so that costs are reduced and efficiency is increased as much as possible.  Database Administrators: Understand how SQL Server 2012 can be set up and function in the virtual environment.